Portal:England
The England portal
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers approximately 62%, and over 100 smaller adjacent islands. It has land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, and is otherwise surrounded by the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south, the Celtic Sea to the south-west, and the Irish Sea to the west. Continental Europe lies to the south-east, and Ireland to the west. At the 2021 census, the population was 56,490,048. London is both the largest city and the capital.
The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Paleolithic. It takes its name from the Angles, a Germanic tribe who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in the 10th century and has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century. The Kingdom of England, which included Wales after 1535, ceased to be a separate sovereign state on 1 May 1707, when the Acts of Union brought into effect a political union with the Kingdom of Scotland that created the Kingdom of Great Britain.
England is the origin of the English language, the English legal system (which served as the basis for the common law systems of many other countries), association football, and the Anglican branch of Christianity; its parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation. England is home to the two oldest universities in the English-speaking world: the University of Oxford, founded in 1096, and the University of Cambridge, founded in 1209. Both universities are ranked among the most prestigious in the world.
England's terrain chiefly consists of low hills and plains, especially in the centre and south. Upland and mountainous terrain is mostly found in the north and west, including Dartmoor, the Lake District, the Pennines, and the Shropshire Hills. The country's capital is London, the metropolitan area of which has a population of 14.2 million as of 2021, representing the United Kingdom's largest metropolitan area. England's population of 56.3 million comprises 84% of the population of the United Kingdom, largely concentrated around London, the South East, and conurbations in the Midlands, the North West, the North East, and Yorkshire, which each developed as major industrial regions during the 19th century. (Full article...)
Gilwell Park is a camp site and activity centre in East London located in the Sewardstonebury area of Waltham Abbey, within Epping Forest, near the border with Chingford. The 109-acre (44 ha) site is owned by The Scout Association, is used by Scouting and Guiding groups. As the original base of leadership training in the Scout movement, it is an important site of the worldwide Scouting movement.
In the late Middle Ages, the area was used as a farm, which grew to become to a wealthy estate that fell into disrepair around 1900. In 1919, Scout Commissioner William de Bois Maclaren bought the estate and gave it to The Scout Association to provide camping facilities for London Scouts and training for Scouters. Scout leaders from all countries of the world have visited Gilwell Park for their Wood Badge training. (Full article...)Selected article -
The COVID-19 pandemic was first confirmed to have spread to England with two cases among Chinese nationals staying in a hotel in York on 31 January 2020. The two main public bodies responsible for health in England were NHS England and Public Health England (PHE). NHS England oversees the budget, planning, delivery and day-to-day operation of the commissioning side of the NHS in England, while PHE's mission is "to protect and improve the nation's health and to address inequalities". As of 14 September 2021, there have been 6,237,505 total cases and 117,955 deaths in England. In January 2021, it was estimated around 22% of people in England have had COVID-19.
Healthcare in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is administered by the devolved governments, but there is no devolved government for England and so healthcare is the direct responsibility of the UK Government. As a result of each country having different policies and priorities, a variety of differences now exist between these systems. (Full article...)General images
London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of around 8.8 million, and its metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a 50-mile (80 km) estuary down to the North Sea and has been a major settlement for nearly two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as Londinium and retains its medieval boundaries. The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national government and parliament. In the 19th century, London grew rapidly, becoming the world's largest city at the time, as it expanded and absorbed the surrounding county of Middlesex, and parts of Surrey and Kent. In 1965 it was combined with parts of Essex and Hertfordshire to create the administrative area of Greater London, which is governed by 33 local authorities and the Greater London Authority.
As one of the world's major global cities, London exerts a strong influence on world art, entertainment, fashion, commerce and finance, education, health care, media, science and technology, tourism, transport, and communications. Despite a post-Brexit exodus of stock listings from the London Stock Exchange, London is still Europe's most economically powerful city, and it remains one of the major financial centres in the world. With Europe's largest concentration of higher education institutions, it is home to some of the highest-ranked academic institutions in the world—Imperial College London in natural and applied sciences, the London School of Economics in social sciences, and the comprehensive University College London. London is the most visited city in Europe and has the busiest city airport system in the world. The London Underground is the oldest rapid transit system in the world. (Full article...)Did you know?
- ...that Lambeth, in the London Borough of Lambeth appeared in the Domesday Book of 1086?
- ...that Kate Marsden journeyed overland to Siberia to find a leprosy cure.
- ...that the Old Bailey was destroyed in the 1666 Great Fire of London, only to be rebuilt in 1674?
- ...that a Jury is only sent to cases of an indictable offence that has been sent to a Crown Court by a magistrates?
In the news
- 1 June 2024 – 2023–24 UEFA Champions League
- In association football, Real Madrid win a record 15th Champions League title after defeating Borussia Dortmund 2–0 in the final at Wembley Stadium in London, England. (CNN)
- 29 May 2024 –
- Four people are injured in a mass shooting in Dalston, London, UK. (BBC News)
- 25 May 2024 – 2023–24 FA Cup
- Manchester United win their 13th FA Cup title after beating the defending champions, Manchester City, by a score of 2–1 in the final at Wembley Stadium in London, England. (The Guardian)
- 21 May 2024 – Singapore Airlines Flight 321
- A Singapore Airlines flight from London, England, to Singapore makes an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, after experiencing severe air turbulence over the Bay of Bengal, resulting in one death and at least 30 injuries. (BBC News)
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“ | The rustics of England, especially those inhabiting the South hams (villages) of Devonshire, have great fun Wassailing the Orchards on Christmans Eve, New Year's and Twelfth Nigh (Boxing Day), when they drink toasts to the largest apple trees and sprinkle them with cyder (cider) carried by the beadle, the parish clerk, or some other such obsolete individual. The Devonshire people do this because they did it the year before. | ” |
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England • Bedfordshire • Brighton • Cheshire • Cornwall • Derbyshire • Dorset • Greater Manchester • Hampshire • Lincolnshire • London • Merseyside • Northamptonshire • North East England • Sheffield • Surrey. Warwickshire • West Midlands • Worcestershire • Yorkshire
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- Requested articles: Charterhouse Lane • Renewable energy in England • Ealing Village
- Expand: Dorothy Boyd • David Troughton
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East Midlands | London | North East | North West | South East | South West | West Midlands | Yorkshire and the Humber |
Ireland | Northern Ireland | Scotland | United Kingdom | Wales |
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